Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

PERRY

Before I can decide how to start my interrogation, Aether reaches across the table and takes my hands in his. I stare down at them, wondering what the fuck is going on, then look up into his smiling face. His eyes, a deep, bottomless, beautiful brown, are fixed on me, and honestly, I could sit here and admire them all day. There's something about his eyes and smile that make me feel… good. Warm and comfortable and relaxed.

Definitely not my usual aesthetic.

"I'm so glad I found you right away this time," he says. "It's always so much better and easier with you by my side."

Oh, fuck. Fuckity damn fuck.

I detangle my hands from his. "Aether, we don't know each other," I remind him as gently as I can. "We met less than an hour ago, remember? By the side of the road?"

He nods enthusiastically. "Yes! The lightning struck, and I was glad to be incarnated again—and sad. I love being human, but I only get to be human when things are bad." His smile has slipped away, and the mournful expression that replaced it makes me want to cry. "But then I saw you! We're together again."

Together… again? And that thing about the lightning… did he get struck? Could that be why he's… him?

But if he'd been struck by lightning, he'd have burns, right? Or something else… I try to remember that episode of Grey's Anatomy when a lightning strike took out a whole sports team. Ruptured eardrums… nerve damage… cardiac arrest… internal injuries…

He's not showing signs of anything like that, but I'm not a doctor and wouldn't know what the signs were. Maybe I should take him to the ER.

"How close to the lightning were you?" I ask. I'm pretty sure that just being near a lightning strike can cause damage. When I first noticed him, he was about halfway between me and the tree that got struck. Maybe he didn't get hit directly, but is still feeling effects?

That doesn't explain the lack of clothes, though.

He looks confused. "I am the lightning."

Trying not to sigh for the fifty thousandth time today, I mentally add a trip to the ER to my to-do list. In the meantime, I change tacks.

"And you need me to drive you home? To your bros," I add hastily.

His smile reappears as he nods. "It's gonna be so good to see them."

So… not home, then. "Has it been long since the last time?"

Shrugging, he says, "About two hundred years? A little less, maybe."

While I blink repeatedly and try to decide how I can possibly respond, Mary Kate brings out our food. "Here you go, boys. Anything else I can get you?"

Aether beams at her. "This looks delightful!"

It's Mary Kate's turn to blink, and then she laughs and pats him on the shoulder again. "Delightful, huh? You've for sure brought some delight into my day, hon." Her hand is slow to move away from him, and I clear my throat.

"This is perfect, thanks, Mary Kate."

She hears the dismissal loud and clear and smirks knowingly at me as she steps away. "Just let me know if you need anything."

I can hear her chuckling still as she retreats to check on the few other people in the diner, but I have more important things to think about. I turn them over in my head as I watch Aether dig into his burger. I'm a guy who can appreciate a good burger, but he seems really enthusiastic about it, closing his eyes to savor the first bite and making little yummy noises while he chews.

Damn him for making it so hard to resist liking him.

"So listen… two hundred years since you saw your bros."

He looks up as he takes another bite, nodding. The movement jostles his burger, and a pickle falls to the plate. I wait patiently for him to chew, forking up some of my salad. Finally swallowing, he says, "Yep! It was right around the time of the industrial revolution. Things changed really fast, and we had to take some steps to make sure… Wait. You don't remember?"

Don't remember what? His face falls, and I wish I knew what story he's got going in his head so I could avoid making him sad like that.

But then he laughs. "I'm such a dinkus. Of course you don't remember. You never do. You must be so confused right now."

"Just a bit," I agree, wondering where this is going now.

He puts his burger down, fastidiously wipes his hands on his napkin, and reaches across the table to take mine again. "We're mates, Perry."

I wait for more. Mates? Like… friends? Is he from Australia? No accent, though. Maybe he has a Britbox subscription and spends too much time watching it.

"We're fated to be together."

Say what now?

Oh. Mates . So not Britbox… trashy young adult books and dramas instead. I can work with this. Trashy books and TV are my jam.

"We find each other in each reincarnation. Sometimes as soon as I arrive, like this time. Others, it takes years, and our time together is shorter."

I muster a smile, a little relieved to have more of the puzzle pieces, but also wondering how the hell to convince him I'm not the reincarnation of his "fated mate."

"I'm gonna be honest with you," I start, gently freeing my hands and picking up half of my sandwich, "I don't have any memory of past lives, and that might be because I don't believe in them. As far as I'm concerned, we get one life, and when it's done, it's done. I'm not religious, I don't believe in an afterlife, and the idea that we keep being born into new bodies doesn't make sense to me. So… I'm flattered that you think we're fated to be together, but I think you have me mixed up with someone else." I take a big bite to give him time to process all that while I chew.

To my surprise, he just smiles. "That's what you always say. Last time, you thought I was from the church, trying to prove you had the devil in you, and you punched me." The smile vanishes, and he draws back a little. "Please don't punch me this time."

I choke on my sandwich.